Speak With Your Heart
by Isshinkurosakis
Summary: One of the last of a dying race, Ori, a shifter with an eccentric attitude, finds herself following Sesshomaru as Rin's self-appointed guard. However, her behavior and strong-scented swords seem to draw more enemies than they repel. Sesshomaru/OC. HIATUS
1. How This all Started

.:START:.

It was long ago when the Shapeless Ones still roamed in great numbers. Though they were not called that then. In their prime, they called themselves "shifters". They revered themselves as beings divine, blessed to choose their forms at will (only distinguishable by the oval gems in their foreheads), the origins of the highest demons, and considered themselves superior to all other races. Whether this was true, or whether they were just fanciful demons, or whether they were something different entirely, is still a mystery. However, their arrogance was legendary, or should have been, at the very least.

Our story does not start in their prime, however. It starts in their decline.

At the start, shifters could shift from their True Form to any other form that they wanted. They were numerous. They had many strange, almost mystical powers. But as time passed, the number of forms that a shifter could hold began to drop. They began to lose their gifts. In these sunset years, the no shifters had none of the gifts that their ancestors did, and the majority only held one form other than their True Forms. The occasional gifted shifter could hold two. The three purest lines, always honored as the strongest, started to vanish. Now, there was only one left, the Origins, and they could hold only two forms at best. Until she was born.

She was the strongest shifter born into their line in many years. She held three shapes outside of her True Form. A she-wolf, a house-cat, and human. The Origins had high hopes for her: marry her to a noble who could hold two forms, begin to rebuild their noble house. They named her Original, hoping to inspire her to restore their line to its original glory.

She was headstrong. She was wild. With her mousy-brown hair and small stature, she didn't look intimidating when compared to others of her kind, but her flashing emerald eyes, which matched the stone in her forehead, exposed her fiery spirit. She was always humming a tune, singing words that caught her fancy, or singing a song, often making them up on the spot (with very silly lyrics, to boot), and did not care who heard her. Her family explained away her eccentric behavior as being high-strung, and promised her (secretly) betrothed that she would settle into her role as a dutiful wife with age.

They told her of the betrothal after she reached her first century. They figured she was starting to cool off by then, having satisfied her wild urges for formal swordsmanship training, demon-slaying, wild hunts with the wolves of the area, and so forth. They were wrong. She immediately tried to leave, disgusted by their attempts to meddle in her life. When two of the more physically imposing members of the clan tried to stop her, she injured them, and made her escape before the rest of the clan could try to stop her.

They lamented her loss. Not for her personality, but for her talents. She could hold three forms! She had the forgotten techniques of the shamans of old: channeling her energy through her gemstone, showing her thoughts through a touch of the gem, projecting her spirit through time to foretell the future, hiding the majority of her aura, even mend her clothing using her aura and energy. She had a stronger aura than the rest of the clan combined. She was their shining hope, she was their light in the darkness, she was the sun after a harsh night. But they had driven her away, and in doing so had signed their clan's death warrant.

She was happy on her own. She killed demons and robbers, hunted to her heart's content, eavesdropped as a little, unimposing house-cat. As a human, her hair was kept back in a long ponytail with shaggy bangs pushed off to the right, and she wore armor similar to a demon hunter (stolen, with chest armor and each armor piece colored green) under a white and green kimono with a black and green obi. To cover her gem, she had a scrap of black cloth over it and her right eye to serve as an eye patch. There was nothing wrong with her eye, but a headband didn't have much reason to stay on constantly, and so she wore the patch so that no one would ask her to remove it. She carried an old katana at her side, and still sang to herself as she walked along.

It was on one of these journeys that she met the Great Dog Demon. Aside from being naturally wild, her arrogance had been nurtured by her clan, and so she challenged him to a sparring match (knowing a powerful and non-malignant demon when she saw one, she meant only to test her strength against him). To make it worth his time, she proclaimed her race, and bragged that she was the strongest in generations, and would grant him any miracle within her power if he won. And if she won, he would have to direct her to the sword-smith who made the swords he carried, so that they could make her a great demon sword, too.

To no-one's surprise, I'm sure, the Great Dog Demon won. However, he was more than fair, and recognized his opponent's strength, and so offered a new deal: he would still direct her to the sword-smith, and have him make her a demon sword, but in return, she would have to project her spirit into the future two-hundred years, and look upon what would come until the fifth century passed.

It was a long time, but she knew she was capable, as long as she was allowed breaks for a few hours each half-century, to feed and restore her strength, so that her body did not waste away. He granted her that, and took her to see Totosai the sword-smith. Totosai allowed her a space in the back of his forge for her use, and promised to keep it covered and to leave her be. And so, she took to viewing the future.

She went forward two-hundred years and viewed from there, traveling the world as a poltergeist, freely shifting in spirit between all forms. She did not like the places with a lot of snow, for shifters were beings adverse to cold by nature, and so passed through quickly even though she only felt the phantom memory of cold and not its actual bite. She went to Europe, but it did not please her much. Smelly and full of too many people. America, though, she loved. Stayed there for most of her time. She reveled in their battle for independence, the war to hold together a nation, and the wars to expand their borders. She watched the two Great Wars and the Cold War with interest. She was a strong non-corporeal supporter of the Woman's Rights movement. She "haunted" a good deal of locations. She gobbled up pop-culture like sweetmeats. Especially the music. It was heaven, for one who had always sang to keep herself company on the road. Her half-century breaks were unremarkable, always just waking, leaving the forge, eating, bathing, catching up a bit with Totosai, and going back to her "sleep".

Five centuries, to her, was too short a time when it finally ended. But alas, it was time to return before she knew it.

.::.

Stiff. That was her main complaint every time she awoke. The stiffness in her muscles made her feel as though she were a reanimated corpse, fighting rigor mortis. She opened her emerald eyes and found herself looking down a long brown snout; she was a she-wolf again. She always seemed to be waking up in this form. She huffed, and stretched her long front legs, toes splaying out, and yawned widely, a little whine catching in the back of her throat. Lifting her chest off the ground, she stretched her head high and extended her hind legs behind her, tail quivering as it curled over her back. Then, with a shake to try to get out the last of her inflexibility, she smoothly shifted into her human form. Her clothes, as well, shifted into being (unlike most of her kind, her clothing shifted with her, which was quite convenient). With yet another yawn, she decided it was time to go visit Totsai and see what the news was.

The forge was steamy and hot as ever, seeing as it was set in a volcano. The heat helped to relax her muscles, at least, even if it did feel stifling. But she wouldn't complain. It was kind enough of Totosai to let her stay here, and she would never let herself be too much of an ingrate.

He was sitting by his firepit, roasting a calf. She sat across from him, resting on her left hip and hand. His bulbous eyes looked up at her, and he croaked, "Ah, Lady Original, I see you're awake."

"Ori, Totosai. We've discussed this. Ori. I'm not a Lady anymore, and Original is a _stupid_ name." She responded, her voice a bit raspy from lack of use. She stiffened a bit, her eyes wide, at the sound of her emphasized word, then smiled. "Stupid, stupid, steeyuuuupid!" She sang, then cackled and wiped a tear away from her left eye. "Aha, stupid."

"Are you feeling better, now?"

"Yeah, a little. So what's shakin', my man?"

Totosai shook his head a bit before staring into the fire. Ori frowned at him, then snapped, "what?"

"Every time you come back, you talk more and more strangely."

"Psh. Whatevs. Anything good?"

"Things have been relatively the same since your last awakening." Totosai responded, cleaning out his right ear with his pinky finger.

"People and demons I don't care about killing other people and demons I also don't care about?"

"Pretty much."

"Boring!" Ori flopped onto her back, wincing as her head hit the stone floor. She always forgot about the stone floor. Staring up at the ceiling, tracing the strange patterns in it with a finger, she suddenly remembered, "Hey! My sword! Did you make me my sword?"

Totosai grinned. "Oh, I've done more than made you _a _sword! You'll have to wait until after lunch to see, though."

Ori popped herself back up right away (the other problem about waking up was that she was always so fidgety for a while after) and sat with her calves folded under her. "Oh, come on, Totosai! Pretty please!"

"Nope! But it's not like you'll have to wait long. This looks about ready." Totosai deflected, staring at the calf.

"Oh, awesome!" Ori exclaimed. "Veal is one of my-" Her words died on her tongue as Totosai grabbed the spit the calf was roasting on and devoured the entire beast in one mouthful. "HEY! What the hell, man!"

The old man's already bugging eyes seemed to get wider as he took in Ori's expression of outrage, and he swallowed with a loud gulp. "Wait a minute. Who am I? Where am I? Who are you?"

His act was rewarded with a conk on the head from Ori's fist. She growled as she walked to the cave entrance, rubbing her fist lightly. "Dammit, old man! Now I gotta go hunting!"

.::.

She returned with a very full belly and the satisfaction of having properly stretched her legs. Totosai was sitting by the cave entrance, hammering away at some weapon Ori wasn't interested enough to pay attention to. It wasn't hers, so why should she care? That was her mentality. And another mentaility she held dear; when you've got something coming to you, you'd better get your hands on it as soon as possible. Screw patience! It was no virtue she'd ever heard of!

"Where's my sword, Totosai?" She grumbled. "It's after lunch now."

Totosai looked to her briefly, his hammer falling with a clang on the steel. "Can you wait until I finish my work?" Ori responded by flexing her punching hand in and out of a fist. Totosai grimaced, and stood. "Very well, then. Follow me."

She followed him farther back into the cave, peering into some of the other rooms as she passed. One of the first was a stable, where Totosai's three-eyed demon cow was munching on sweet-smelling hay. Another room held demon bones and fangs. Many more had doors or cloths to hide their contents from her prying eyes. Finally, after what seemed like _hours_ of walking (about three minutes, in reality), Totosai led her into one of the rooms.

It was unremarkable, except for a sheet covering a lumpy something, and an ominous aura. An aura that said someone – or something – wasn't very happy. Ori gave her head a shake to ward off the chills that were threatening to go down her spine. The old swordsmith walked over to the sheet, and pulled it off to reveal a sword rack, holding two katana and a shoto with decorative ivory-colored guards and beautiful scabbards, the leather a cream with three flowers stamped into the side, little maroon streakes coming from their centers, and a plain shoto with the same cream sheath and straps at the top and bottom, but no design and no guard. Each of the grips was woven with strands of what seemed to be individual threads, the lightest being white and the darkest a rich maroon. The gold caps on the end of each grip were marked with flowers like those on the scabbards, too. Ori stepped closer, and the ominous feeling she had grew.

"The Great Dog Demon, one day after you started your sleep, brought me back the body of a beautiful flower demon whom he was forced to slay, as she attacked him relentlessly without warning as he walked through a meadow. I have made the scabbards from strong wood, and covered them with leather made of her skin. The flowers were stamped and painted with a dye mixed with her blood. The guards and the handles of the swords were made from her bones, the grip from her hair. The dye and the hair have had magic put into them, the hair to give it good grip and keep the strands from fraying, the dye to keep it from fading. The steel of the blade is mixed with her crushed bones." Totosai stared at the swords a moment, then looked to Ori. "I made so many blades because I did not want to waste her body, but I did not have enough suitable bone left to properly finish the last shoto. Therefore, I made it so that it is capable of being hidden under a kimono, on one's leg. She is strong in these swords, though. Her aura is often unpleasant to deal with, which is why I have kept the swords back here."

Ori blinked. "Wow. So, basically, you made a buncha swords outta one demoness which turned out to be very unhappy swords but they're mine now?"

"So it would seem," Totosai said, scratching his mostly bald head.

Ori took a deep breath, then stepped forward and took the two katanas first. They did not like her, and cracking demon energy wrapped around her hands and wrists, shocking her. Ori gritted her teeth, and in retaliation let her shifter aura grow and smother the demonic aura. She sent energy into the blades like a battering ram, and shocked the swords into submission. Happy with her work, she tucked the swords into her obi, curved cutting edge up, and settled the first shoto on her left side, above the katana, and strapped the second on the outside of her right leg. Totosai looked at her arrangement, and nodded in approval.

"The katana at your right is Hoshiko, and the katana at your left is Tsukiko. The shoto above Tsukiko is Miyako, and the hidden one is Shizuko. Treat them well, and you will be rewarded."

.:END:.

Many thanks for reading!

So, this story was formerly known as Original Origins, and was posted on deviantART. however, and is in the process of being re-written. I apologize for the beginning of it being so boring, but some backstory is necessary so that you know what the hell I'm doing.

This first chapter once was the original first TWO chapters, though, so you can at least be happy that I shortened up the boring crap by a lot.

Also, please review! I won't demand reviews, but I am one of those people who works faster when I know at least one person appreciates what I'm doing!


	2. Almost a Journal Entry

If there is a reference in here that you don't fully understand, I recommend you tough it out. There is a guide at the end.

.:START:.

This morning, like most, was still and quiet. The sun had only just recently risen, and mist still hung lazily over the ground. The birds were only just starting to sing. Everything was peaceful, until...

"Just two of us, the travelers we, though there's four of you and one of me! "So, how does this work?" you're asking? Well, because I say so, see?"

Ori, bright and perky after one last night in Totosai's forge, was eagerly strolling down the dirt road. Her singing voice was not unpleasant, but obviously untrained, and would sound better if she weren't trying to sing so loudly. She was hoping, however, that her loud singing would draw otherwise unwanted attention, as she hadn't yet drawn her swords, and was dying to.

Her swords were hoping no attention of any kind would come along. They were dreadfully embarrassed to be wielded by such a silly person.

Alas, after several hours on the road, no attention came their way, and Ori had reduced her enthusiasm to loud, purposely off-key humming to "The Walrus and the Carpenter". She was bored. Her attempts to talk to her swords earlier had not gone well, as they could not answer her in words, just emotions and feelings through their combined aura (they seemed to have a collective consciousness, which was a good thing for Ori, as it meant there would be only one opinion from all four of them). At some point she had taken to referring to the group of them as "children", and now they were sulking.

And so she was walking down a road, humming rather badly, with sulky swords. Quite the adventurer, or at least she would be, until she took an arrow to the knee.

Hoofbeats drifted on the wind, caught by Ori's keen-for-a-human ears. She could make out three riders in the distance, galloping on their horses, covering ground quickly. She wondered why they were going so fast, but didn't move out of the road. Why should she? If they needed to get by her in such a hurry, they could go around her.

As it turned out, though, they didn't need to get anywhere as quickly as they had seemed. Or, at least, that's what Ori gathered when they rode up in a formation, jumped from their horses, and formed a triangle around her. She stopped and took them in, mildly interested. From their dirty look, shabby clothes, stench, and drawn weapons, she assumed they were bandits.

"Women like you shouldn't be wandering around all by themselves," the man to her left said, a twisted gleam in his eyes, "you never know what could happen."

The man to her right licked his lips, and let his eyes wander up and down her body.

"_Oh, they're rapists, too. What fun."_

The man behind her called out, "Those're some nice-looking swords, there! They'd look better on the hips of someone who knew how to use them, though!"

Ori bristled, and she took Hoshiko in her left hand and Tsukiko in her right. She drew them without effort. A strong scent immediately filled the air. Vanilla and red licorice, Ori noted. The men laughed, obviously still in the mindset that because she was a woman, she couldn't possibly know how to use her swords. The corners of her mouth flickered up in a smile, and she slipped into a cat stance, left foot forward, Tsukiko held horizontally in front, Hoshiko horizontally in front of her torso, blade points nearly touching. The men were still laughing, but now with some confusion.

Before they could gain any sort of wits about them (assuming they even had any to start with), Ori called out, "Let's rock, baby!" and proceeded to leap at the bandit on her left and slice open his throat. His surprised shout turned to a gurgle as he fell onto his back, dead.

Ori spun and took up her stance again as the other two came at her. She felt a strong desire to stand with both feet firmly planted and let go of her swords. For a split second, in her mind's eye, she saw her self releasing the blades and holding her hands flat as they spun on their own. Shocked, but never one to doubt a gut feeling, she pushed her left heel down, brought it back level with her right foot, thrust her swords forward, and opened her hands flat. Just as she envisioned, her swords began to spin very quickly. The bandits still came, and struck at her, but just before their steel met her spinning blades, they collided with something semi-transparent, maroon-pink in color, and shimmering, which reflected their swords and sent them stumbling backwards. The one who had remarked on the swords shouted, "A barrier!" as Ori took her blades in hand again.

She lunged at the lip-licker, still off-balance from the barrier's rebound. He lifted his sword quickly in an attempt to block, and Ori flipped Hoshiko so that the blade was held along the length of her arm, then met his block with a great deal of force. Using her body weight, she pressed his blade up above their heads, and pressed her sword point against the now-exposed, small patch of skin just between his collarbones. Before he could jump back, she slid Hoshiko home, and without even waiting for his body to hit the ground, she spun and slashed at the last bandit, who had attempted to run up and stab her in the back. She stepped fluidly out of the way as the bandit's guts spilled and tripped his still-moving body. He hit the ground with a thud, still gasping, and Ori severed his head without a second thought. She didn't believe in letting her victims die long, agonizing deaths.

Her job done, Ori walked over to the side of the road, where a nice patch of green grass awaited. There, she crouched, and began to clean the blood from her swords. As blood transferred from steel to grass, Ori started to catch glimpses of ivory chips and dust in the metal. The bone dust and fragments that Totosai had talked about. She was marveling at the effect the ivory pieces had in the sun, when she was struck by a thought. She knew of a flower that smelled powerfully of vanilla and red licorice.

"Night Phlox," She murmured, and was met with a feeling of surprise and approval from her swords. So, she had the swords of a night phlox demoness. And if night phlox was a night flower...

"Does this mean you'll get more powerful at night?"

Another feeling of approval. Ori grinned, then looked up and noticed the three horses. Her grin became a full-fledged smile. Now she had a way to get some money, too.

She caught the three horses, two bays and a black, and mounted the smallest of the three, a bay with a white sock on his left hind and a broad blaze on his face. Holding the reins of the other two in her right hand, she started off at a jog. Feeling particularly jovial, she began to sing.

"Things that bother you never bother me, I feel happy and fine, AHA! Living in the sunlight, loving in the moonlight, having a _wonderful_ time!"

.::.

She reached the village by breakfast time, saddle-sore but otherwise still as bright as when she had set off. While she was still going to sell the other two horses, both mares, she decided to keep the little stallion she was riding for her own, as he was quite a comfortable ride, and had a good head for a horse, let alone a stallion. The other two, while not the finest, were still very nice horses, and the black mare was in foal, which would get her a higher price.

She went to the center of town, and dismounted. She tied her little stallion to a post, then led out the mare and gelding a little ways and began advertising.

"For sale, must sell today! Now! Two fine mares, the black in foal, plus tack! Will make for excellent riding animals, or can earn their keep in the fields! Asking price, 1 ryo for the bay and 2 for the black, or best offer!"

The low price caught people's attention, and they were interested immediately in the black mare. She was sold quickly, with men vying for her so much that when she was finally sold, her price had tripled. The bay mare was a tougher sell, but Ori jumped on her back and rode her around a bit, where she displayed surprising fleetness of foot and agility, and she sold for just over double her price.

Some men asked about her little stallion, but Ori refused again and again. He was small, more of a pony than a horse, really, but a fine little steed, and very clever, she was willing to bet. However, she did offer to have him sire some colts, and with a modest fee of 25 momme per mare, she made an easy 100, plus a blanket, cinch, and a new bridle from the man who bought the bay mare. Here, the horse impressed her even more, by remaining calm despite the mares who were very obviously in season, and still looked to her as leader.

After a very full afternoon, Ori pulled his saddle and replaced it with the pad and cinch, which became a bareback pad, and swapped out his old, crummy bridle for the new one. The saddle and bridle, she left in the dirt for whoever wanted them. She wouldn't make any money selling those. She bought some rice balls and miso soup from a local vendor, and rode off, eating as she went with her reins on her horse's neck, her little horse responding beautifully to light leg pressure. She wasn't sure what to name him, but she knew the right one would come in time.

She stopped in a large, open, grassy meadow, adorned with patches of flowers. She dismounted and lay in the grass, tying her horse on a slender tree trunk. She napped here for an hour or two, then awoke and started back off down the road.

And was bored. So tremendously bored.

No action since this morning, just boring old stuff. Stuff that makes up the slow parts when you read journals or old letters. It was lame and boring.

Her little horse seemed bored, too. He was plodding along on a slack rein, with his head stretched out and low, his longish ears bobbing back and forth with the motions his head and neck made with his natural gait. He must have been too lazy to tighten up the muscles and hold them in one set position. And now, with the sun high, the two were slowly baking on the dirt road. Ori wiped her brow with the back of her right wrist, then stretched both arms up and arched her back, letting the reins drop out entirely as she did so. After her stretch, she slumped and laid back onto her horse's rump. His stride jostled her a bit, but otherwise the little guy's large, muscular back end was comfortable.

Ori's swords gave her a nagging sensation. This was terrible horsemanship, and something would spook her horse and then she'd fall and hurt herself or her horse would wander away. Ori looked up briefly and found the horse was still walking along the same road, and so she dropped her head again, closed her eyes, and ignored her swords. She was sure the horse wasn't going to shy as easily as they thought, and he seemed to have enough sense to follow the road.

And then she woke up, the sun no longer nearing its apex but now past it, her body tilted a great deal to the right.

She startled upright, and found she was still on her horse. Testament to his smooth gait and non-flighty nature. But they were no longer on the road. Ori whipped her head around, fearing they were lost, before seeing the road just behind them, off to the left. Letting out a sigh of relief, she looked to her horse, and found that he had come off the road to take a nap of his own, right hip cocked in relaxation. Ori grinned and patted his neck. His right ear flicked back to her, showing he was more alert than he appeared. A better little horse she could not have bought, let alone found.

Ori slid off his left side, landing with a muffled thud on flowers. The horse had chosen to stop in a meadow, filled with wildflowers. How picturesque. She closed her eyes and inhaled the sweet scent that the flowers gave off.

And smelled the faint traces of demon stench, growing stronger.

Ori's eyes snapped open, and she took a more defensive stance, ready to spring in whichever direction. Her horse snorted, and Ori looked back to see him pawing up the flowers and dirt with pinned ears and his lips and nostrils wrinkled, his teeth showing in a thin line where they were peeling back from his muzzle. She rushed over to him and jumped on, and promptly had to hold him back tightly, as he nearly charged off into the direction of the smell. Brave little thing, but Ori wasn't sure what to make of the change from the placid Old Reliable of before to the eager warhorse.

Curious about the demon smell herself, she allowed the horse to follow the scent trail at a reasonable pace. The excited horse jogged quickly, with occasional stamps and near-bolts with his neck arched and teeth clacking as he chomped on his bit. His breath came out in impatient snorts.

They were nearing the center of the meadow when a young girl came bursting from the surrounding forest. A two-headed dragon followed, hovering in the air, spitting demon flames at the trees, where a large ogre-like demon was emerging, shielding itself with a giant club. Big and dumb, but extremely durable, and obviously hungry for human flesh.

Ori transferred the reins into her left hand and drew Tsukiko. The horse, sensing the coming fight, bugled a loud stallion call, and bounced up on his hind legs several times, muscles in his powerful hindquarters taunt, ready to sprint. When the little girl in the checkered kimono tripped, Ori released him, being sure to steer him around and in front of the girl, then drawing him back so that they were now standing between the girl and the great brute of a demon.

The demon roared, and went to swing its club, and Ori used her left leg to swing the horse's hips right, and let Tsukiko spin. The demon's club hit the barrier with a burst of light and auric sparks, but the barrier held, the smell of red licorice and vanilla overpowering. Now with her right leg, she pushed the stallion's hips left, and moved her left hand over his neck to the left simultaneously, moving him over. As they moved, so did Ori's hand, and therefore Tsukiko, and therefore the barrier, and eventually the club slipped and hit the ground. Ori took Tsukiko in hand again, urged the horse over to the right, and gave an overhand slash at its wrist. She felt no resistance, and almost thought she had missed, but when the demon gave a shriek of pain, she looked again and saw that the hand holding the club was slipping off, neatly severed.

She smirked and chuckled, and her momentary celebration was reprimanded when the now-stump of an arm swung and hit her in the face, knocking her clean off her horse. She landed with a hard "oof" on her back, the wind knocked out of her, but she groaned and stood again, now drawing Hoshiko with her left hand.

The demon, luckily, had been momentarily distracted from the girl, and was trying to grab at her stallion, but the little horse was too quick, and rewarded each missed grab with kicks, strikes from his forefeet, or vicious bites where he grabbed the demon's skin and shook his head like a dog chewing on tough meat. She was suddenly very proud of her brave, clever little horse. Many others would have just bolted, and he was fighting this demon, keeping it away from her. He had obviously been some samurai's trusted steed before, or at least raised in the manner.

But that didn't matter. The horse alone couldn't kill the demon, he could only distract it, and so Ori was drawn back to the matter at hand. Another vision came to her, this time of her stabbing her swords into the ground. This one was less disorienting than the first, but she still wondered if there was any better way the swords could communicate their abilities to her as she plunged them into the earth.

Immediately, she saw the thick green vines grow up around the demon's ankles and feet and wrap themselves around tight, up to the knee. Trapping it. The stupid demon didn't realize this yet, though, and aimed another grab at her stallion, plunging its fingers into the soil. Ori saw the vines come up and wrap around its wrist and hands. When she removed her swords, the vines stopped growing, and the demon tried to move toward her, straining at the vines, but was stuck fast. Those suckers had to be pretty strong. Ori didn't pause to marvel, though, as they were stretching and fraying against the demon's strength. She instead raced at its hand and jumped up. Then, using her swords like ski poles, she ran up the demon's arm. Twice, once at its elbow and the next at its bicep, it swung its stump at her, but she lithely dodged in the nick of time both tries, and it only gave itself massive bruises. Moaning stupidly, it watched as she climbed up onto its shoulder, and turned its head to try and see better. One beady eye looked straight at her. Ori smirked.

"Idiot," She sniffed.

And then she stabbed it in the eye with Hoshiko, and in the temple with Tsukiko.

The demon gave a great roar of pain as it died, then slumped to the ground. Ori pulled her swords out and landed delicately on the flowers, now being stained blackish-red from the demon's blood. She wiped her swords on some clean flowers, and sheathed them. The stallion came prancing up to her, tossing his head proudly. She took hold of his reins, and walked over to where the girl now stood, petting the two-headed dragon.

"You travel alone with him?" Ori asked as she climbed back onto her horse. Her nose felt bruised from the whap in the face she'd gotten, but luckily she was more durable than a regular human, so it wasn't broken.

The little girl looked over at her in innocent surprise. Her messy black hair, Ori now noted, had one small side-ponytail in it, accenting her innocent, childish appearance. "Not really. I travel with the great Lord Sesshomaru and Jaken, too, but they went somewhere too dangerous for me to follow, so I stayed with Ah-Un."

Ori nodded. She surmised that the other two not present were demons as well; she could smell their faded scent, and feel the remnants of a powerful aura around the little girl and Ah-Un.

"What's your name, little one?" She asked, pressing her horse to walk closer to them. He did so, calmer now, but keeping an alert eye on the dragon demon.

"My name is Rin. Thank you very much for saving me!" She exclaimed, giving a little bow of thanks.

Ori waved a hand nonchalantly. "M'name's Ori. And don't thank me yet, kid, because I'm sticking to you tighter than bark on a tree. Not that I have any beef with your dragon or your other companions, but it seems to me you need a little extra protecting when they're gone."

Rin opened her mouth to answer, but stopped suddenly and began to grin. And then Ori felt the powerful aura trickle over her skin like cold water. Her hair stood on end, and before she could react, the horse spun and gave a half-rear, striking with his front legs and trumpeting. Ori regained her senses quickly enough to keep him from charging straight at the demon emanating the aura, a young-looking man with flowing white hair, a blue crescent moon on his forehead, and two magenta stripes on each cheek, with a green kappa demon at his side.

The horse gave a lunge, and Ori struggled to hold him.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, what's your problem! Cool your engines, Turbo Jet!" She hollered, trying to hold back and calm the stallion, who was now merely dancing in place, ears pinned and teeth clicking. And it was right here in this tense moment that some disconnected part of Ori's brain went, _"__Huh, __you __just __named __your __horse.__"_

The young man-demon stared at the horse with acidic yellow eyes. "Your pony appears to have a death wish."

Ori bristled, and Turbo snorted. "He is a small horse, thank you, and he just happens to be braver than the average equine," she snipped.

"Lord Sesshomaru!" Rin cried, happily running to him. Ori was sure she was going to hug his legs, he was so tall, but the little girl stopped short. Damn. She had really wanted to get an idea of how skinny his legs were under the ballooning hakama pants. "Miss Ori saved me from that scary demon!" She explained, pointing to the corpse. Lord Sesshomaru didn't so much as bat an eyelash.

"That's not a great accomplishment, Rin," the kappa lectured. Ori guessed he was Jaken. And she also noticed that he had a very ugly staff with the heads of an old man and an old woman on it. It reminded her of a slightly less ugly wabbajack. "Lord Sesshomaru could have dispatched the demon without any effort!" He gushed. Ori stuck out her tongue with a pantomimed blanch. Turbo stopped his fancy footwork and flicked one ear forward.

"That's true, but she's going to be my bodyguard when you and Lord Sesshomaru are away, Master Jaken!" Rin explained. Now Sesshomaru turned his attention back to Ori. She stared back. It was hard. Jaken was protesting and she really wanted to look there, plus, it felt like Sesshomaru's gaze was slowly melting her brain. But she squared her jaw and kept on looking.

"It is no concern of mine whether or not she accompanies Rin. The decision is for her to make." He said, after what felt like hours and hours to Ori. She was surprised she had a brain left to think it had felt like hours and hours.

Jaken made some sort of stuttering protest, but was silenced by a glare from Sesshomaru. Rin clapped in celebration. Ori smiled weakly as the demon lord turned his back. She was rather sure, at this point, that she had bitten off more than she could chew, if he ever initiated another staring match like that again.

But no matter what she thought. Everyone seemed to be moving along, following him. Lord Sesshomaru. Ori gave a single cluck to Turbo, and he walked on with them, not as relaxed as he had been on the road, but no longer trying to charge the powerful demon. He seemed to sense the shift in alliances. Ori patted him on the neck, and then turned her attention to Rin, who was now eager to chat with her about how great everything and everyone was.

Turbo grew more relaxed. Ori grew more relaxed. She started to get a little comfortable. She could feel piercing amber eyes watching her from over the demon lord's shoulders, but she pretended not to notice. It was much easier, right now, to just be Rin's listener.

And she had the hope that she would get to remain her listener.

.:END:.

There. Second chapter. A whopping 4049 words. NEVER expect this big of a chapter again. As much as I love long chapters, this is much, and I don't want to put myself through it again.

Yeah, some of it seemed pointless, but guess what? You now know that Ori is a clever businesswoman, and is terribly lazy. So there.

And I got to practice writing fight scenes. So there.

_Reference Guide: that's right! You, too, can be "hip", "cool", and "savvy"!_

Line: "_Ori __had __reduced __her __enthusiasm __to __loud, __purposely __off-key __humming __to __**"**__**The **__**Walrus **__**and **__**the **__**Carpenter**__**"**__"_  
>Reference to: Disney's <em>Alice <em>_in __Wonderland_ animated feature  
>More?: It was a song there that I really like. Love. A lot.<p>

Line: _"__Quite __the __adventurer, __or __at __least __she __would __be, __**until **__**she **__**took **__**an **__**arrow **__**to **__**the **__**knee**__.__"  
><em>Reference to: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim  
>More?: One of the guards has a dialogue that happens to be "I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to the knee." The internet has since fallen in love with this quote.<p>

Line: _"__**"**__**Let's **__**rock, **__**baby!**__**"**__"  
><em>Reference to: Devil May Cry  
>More?: Dante, the main character. "Let's rock, baby" happens to be a catchphrase of his. It was even referenced in Sega's video game, Bayonetta.<p>

Line: _"__**"**__**Things **__**that **__**bother **__**you **__**never **__**bother **__**me, **__**I **__**feel **__**happy **__**and **__**fine, **__**AHA! **__**Living **__**in **__**the **__**sunlight, **__**loving **__**in **__**the **__**moonlight, **__**having **__**a **__**wonderful **__**time!**__**"**__"  
><em>Reference to: Tiny Tim's "Living in the Sunlight"

Line: _"__It __reminded __her __of __a __slightly __less __ugly __**wabbajack**__.__"  
><em>Reference to: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim  
>More?: The wabbajack is an ugly weapon with three ugly faces: a happy man, a scared man, and an angry man, all with wide-open mouths, given to the player by the God of Madness. Its effects are completely random, ranging from transformation to disintegration to healing or turning your enemies invisible.<p> 


End file.
